Choices
by Runi-chan
Summary: There were several things that could be awaiting them at the Moon Base, they were told. Did it matter? He was back. Spoilers for I.N.T.E.R.V.I.E.W.S.


_Oh, I.N.T.E.R.V.I.E.W.S...what little sense you made. But how awesome you were, hehe. After I saw it, I kept wondering what'd happen if Sector V went to see Nigel come back. Of course I do, that's the question they left us with, which was fairly clever. Ah well...I can't sleep and I've got a laptop with an internet connection..._

_ Summary: _There were several things that could be awaiting them at the Moon Base, they were told. Did it matter? He was back. Spoilers for I.N.T.E.R.V.I.E.W.S.

* * *

_"Yeah..we told him everything he wanted. We'll meet you at the moon base._

_ Oh, and Numbuh One? _

_Welcome back..."_

They talked very little on the way to the Moon Base. When they did, it was short sentences, short exchanges. Everyone was too nervous, too anxious. Wally fiddled with the ring on his finger, looked at Kuki.

" Everything's changed," he spoke. It was quiet; so uncharacteristic of the Aussie. No one responded for a while.

"Yeah, it has," Abby responded, turning her chair to face Wally.

"Whaddya think we're going to find up there?"

Kuki this time, with a tinge of innocence that had caught Wally's eye so long ago. He smirked, holding back a chuckle.

"Well, there's three things that could be possible--he could have just not changed at all, changed a little, or he looks like he's as old as us," Wally cocked his head towards Hoagie.

"Well, some of us"

"I heard that!"

And they were laughing.

"After all, it is the nature of light. It's absolutely scientifically possible that he could even be younger than when he left, if you're factoring in relativity."

A brief pause left the small craft scarily quiet for a moment before another, even more raucous bout of laughter bounced off the metal walls.

"Darn it, Wally, I'm still not used to you being smart," Hoagie chuckled. The Aussie grinned--he was rather used to this. No one, especially his oldest friends, had ever expected him to end up with a PhD. To be a doctor. Kuki had even insisted he was ill (back when he still hadn't told her how he felt), and it'd taken him a month an a half to convince his parents he hadn't wasted money on the registration fee for college.

The Moon Base was in view now. Kuki glanced back at Planet Earth; 362 had long since left the KND. Abby had done a wonderful job.

Somewhere down there, Father was fuming because he had taken all the time and effort to decommission them (They never had been in the first place, but what the man didn't know wouldn't hurt him) and interview them. The man had stormed out, leaving a literal smoking trail behind him.

For someone so focused on adult supremacy, he was incredibly juvenile, she thought.

They were in a seperate docking bay now, away from the current operatives. Abby mentioned something about using it when she was a teen operative; and there were still tyrrany fighting adults involved in the KND; even if the current kids didn't know. They all shuffled through darkened halls; Hoagie a little slower than others.

It seemed smaller, Abby thought. She glanced back; Kuki and Wally were walking close--Wally always was protective of the girl. He'd been an adorable kid, but with the graying hair, he finally looked, well, like a man. She smiled.

"Nervous?"

"Nah, Hoagie, it's Nigel...doesn't matter what we look like; he'll know"

They ended up in a nicely lit room. A few teen guards stood by the door, untrusting.

"He'll be along shortly," one of them said.

No one could bring themselves to talk now. They were trying to remember things from that day, so long ago, when he left. They remembered; never grow up.

No one could say they hadn't kept that promise.

They were so busy thinking, they didn't hear him come in.

"Hi guys,"

And there he was. No one could move for a moment, and then Nigel Uno was overwhelmed by his old friends. Words were incoherent, but once everyone could speak through the tears, Numbuh One got filled in; who got married, who didn't, who was doing what. No one in that room could stop beaming.

Nigel looked up at his friends; they were so different from when he'd left. Tears pricked at his eyes; this was almost painful. He slipped a hand into his pocket--weird that the Galactic KND still had outfits with pockets--and his fingers closed around a vial. Would it be worth it?

He decided to distract himself.

"So, uh, Wally," this was weird; he felt as if he should be saying sir or something to the silver-haired man standing in front of him, "what did you do after, uh, high school?"

"College," he answer, smirking, "then Med School. I have a PhD. now"

For the first time in many many many years, Nigel was utterly speechless.

"I thought they only let smart people into med school!"

It was out of his mouth before he knew what he had said, and he looked up to see Kuki doubled over in laughter. Abby shook her head, and musical laughter echoed in the room.

But of course the conversation changed. Of course silence crept into the room.

But only Wally was stupid enough to ask it.

"Why'd you come back, Numbuh...Nigel?"

He didn't have a good enough answer, he knew.

"Do you know why I left?"

He wasn't being condescending, or trying to make anyone relive painful memories.

"Adulthood's a disease," he wanted to say. He wasn't supposed to.

This time, Hoagie was the one who spoke up.

"Yeah. They needed you more than we did."

And he didn't seem mad. No one in the room did.

He was supposed to tell them they'd made progress; they'd been working on it for years before he'd come along. He had just enough of this trial, this antidote strong enough to maybe pull them back into teen years. But he didn't know how to tell them; didn't know if they'd even want to be a part of this again.

"...you know what? "

"What?"

"We definitely need to catch up more, you guys," the voice was young; older than it'd been when he left, but, unable to be places. But it was happy.

Eh, he'd ask them later whether they wanted to join him again. He didn't know anything about their families or what'd happened in the long time he'd been gone.

He'd made his choice. If he was any sort of friend, he would let them make theirs.


End file.
